Blood Red
by Depressed Writer
Summary: "I never wanted to go to Alice Academy. Yet here I am now, caught up in some sort of deadly conspiracy with a jerk named Hyuuga, failing all my classes and the target of all the mean, popular girls. Great life, huh?" Natsume isn't the only one with secrets. And some things are better left unsaid. NxM
1. Chapter 1: Elusive

_**Blood Red**_

_**Depressed Writer**_

* * *

_It is sadder to find the past again and find it inadequate to the present than it is to have it elude you and remain forever a harmonius conception of a memory.  
__-F. Scott Fitzgerald_

**C****hapter 1: Elusive**

**Disclaimer: I'd lie and say it belonged to me but then I'd be in _deep_ trouble. So, no, I don't own Gakuen Alice.**

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I'd never heard of Alice Academy. Nor did I want to attend such a prestigious place. If anything, I'd really rather stay far, far away from Alice Academy. So why was my mother forcing me to attend this place?

To say that the school was big would be a huge understatement. A beautiful white building rose up in front of me. A similar building stood proudly to the right and a cluster of smaller buildings were far off on my left. There was probably another building somewhere and a swimming pool, a tennis court, a basket-ball court and god knows what else. I had to admit, all together, it looked really, and I mean _really, _impressive.

And the only thing separating me and the really, big impressive academy were a pair of iron gates.

"Now remember to do your laundry every week. And don't forget to put on warm clothes in the winter."

"I'll be fine, Mom," I muttered, "You don't have to worry about me."

When she had finally finished giving instructions and stopped fussing over me, she stepped back to look at me.

"Well, I'll help you take your bags and settle in, shall I?" I could have sworn I heard her voice cracking a bit at the end. I simply nodded.

We carried my things all the way till the main lobby of the school, the kind security guard helping us on our way. While my mother was filling out a form at the reception, I took the opportunity to look around. The lobby was very grand; a few students and teachers milled about, lush, comfy sofas were thrown in casually at places and rich paintings and portraits adorned the walls. A board behind the reception boasted of all the facilities and achievements of the school.

All in all, it seemed like a pretty neat place.

"Mikan," my mom called me over to the reception area; apparently, they needed my signature. After everything was sorted out, the smiling receptionist told us it was time to say our goodbyes. My mother didn't seem too happy about this.

"Be a good girl, Mikan. I love you," she hugged me and when she had run out of things to say and fuss over, she finally turned around to go and waved. I felt a bit sad, seeing her go, realizing that the next time I'd get to see her would probably be after months.

I picked up my suitcase and followed the still-smiling receptionist. She led me through a long flight of corridors till we reached a door.

"This is usually how the students get from their dorms to the main building," she explained. "It's shorter than the long way round the front."

I smiled and nodded to be polite. A winding path led from the main building to the student dorms. When we reached there, we had to take another set of stairs, before finally getting to my room. She explained how one building was for the boys and the other was for the girls. The smiling receptionist (doesn't her mouth hurt from too much smiling?) told me I'd be sharing the room with another girl.

Suddenly, the door opened and a teenage girl about my age strode out, talking on her phone. When she saw me, she frowned and quickly ended the call.

"So, this is the new girl?" she queried, placing a manicured hand on her hips. Her hair was dark with the tips curly at the end and her thin eyebrows shot up as she looked me up and down. "She looks stupid."

I didn't like her one bit.

"Well, at least I don't look as stupid as you do," I shot back. That got her _mad._

"Watch your mouth, new girl, I can make your life hell."

"We'll see about that." We would probably have went on arguing with each other if the receptionist hadn't intervened.

"Ms Sakura, this is Sumire Shouda, she will be your roommate from now on."

Great. Just great.

* * *

I sat on my bed, sorting out my belongings. The smiling receptionist had gone to attend to her duties long ago and Permy, er-I mean, Sumire was standing impatiently in the doorway, waiting for me to finish unpacking.

"Hurry up, Nikan Makura, or whatever your name is," she said leaning against the door frame, "It's almost dinnertime and I can't leave you alone here."

I found her _very _annoying. If she wanted me to 'hurry up' then maybe she should have tried shutting up and helping me like all good roommates were supposed to do.

"It's Mikan Sakura, actually," I said. "And what's wrong with leaving me here?"

She rolled her eyes, "It's because you're new here...I was assigned to help you out before you even reached this academy. That's the _only _reason why I'm even standing here talking to you here. If I wasn't unlucky enough to have to get stuck with you then I would be hanging out with my friends right now," she crossed her arms impatiently, "So like, _hurry up."_

When I had finally finished unpacking and sorting out my things, I met Sumire outside in the corridor and she closed the door. I noticed an electronic card swiping machine installed next to the door on the wall.

"You'll get your room card sometime today," she explained. We took a set of stairs down. There were still a lot of people milling about, who weren't hungry yet, or maybe just had decided to skip it. Sumire seemed to know a lot of them and waved at them as we walked past. Then we reached a place where another corridor intersected ours.

"This," Sumire said gesturing to the other corridor, "Is the boys part of the dorms. You're not allowed to go here after 7 pm. And that," she said pointing towards a large door in the middle of the corridor, "Is the dining hall."

I could hear the hub of conversation and noise as the thousands of students in the academy ate and had fun.

"Come on, let's go."

Suddenly, my throat went dry and I felt nervous. As much as I didn't want to care about this school, I still found myself thinking that I'd better not embarrass myself or do something obviously stupid. I was a new kid. I had to make sure I was accepted.

"Feeling nervous?" Sumire asked, and I was surprised to find that there was a bit of kindness in her voice. "That's okay, everyone feels a bit nervous at their first day in a new school. You can sit at our table, if you want."

I nodded gratefully, relieved. Maybe Sumire wasn't that bad after all. She pushed open the door and a loud barrage of noise suddenly seemed to roar into existence.

...

Well, it certainly was an...'unexpected' ...scene. Food was literally flying through the air. Students completely covered in food grabbed everything they could find and threw it at each other. Teachers screamed at students trying to maintain order, but they did it half heartedly; some of them were even joining the fight!

"WHAT," I asked my mouth agape, "Is going on?"

Sumire cursed, "It must have been one of the ninth graders. Those annoying Tokihara twins, I bet. Come on." she grabbed my hand and dragged me through the crowd. I just let her lead me, my mouth was hanging half a metre below where it originally was. Some of the students laughed at me. But I was too shocked to care. Did they, like, do this everyday or something?

"SUMIRE!" I heard a girly voice scream. We turned around and saw a cute pink-haired girl at the far side of the hall. I noticed, it was calmer and quieter at that side. She was gesturing for us to come over. I stared at her. To think that she could scream loud enough so that we could hear her voice above all this uproar. ..Wow..

We pushed past the crowd together, sometimes having to crawl under tables to avoid flying food and the mob of students. Sumire was muttering curses and some _very _severe profanity under her breath. When we finally reached the other side of the hall, I immediately collapsed into a nearby chair and gasped for breath. If this was how it was going to be everyday, first thing after dinner would be to call up my mom and scream at her over the phone to come and take me home.

"So who's your new friend?" I glanced up to see the pink-haired girl staring at me quizzically.

"Mikan Sakura," I said standing up and offered her my hand, "I'm new here."

She grasped my hand, "Hello Mikan, I'm Anna Unemoniya."

"Nice to meet you, Anna."

We stood there awkwardly, smiling at each other. Sumire broke the silence by clearing her throat, "Let's go sit down at a table and talk. Anna, where are the others?"

She led us through the crowd. Behind us, at the 'other side', the students were still on a food rampage. Just listening to them scream bloody murder made me glad I was on this side. The safe side, I decided. We reached a large round table for six. Three girls were sitting around them, leaving three other chairs empty. We sat down and then the chatter began.

I didn't participate in the conversations much since I was new and didn't know anything. But I soon learned their names. The one who sat next to me was Hotaru Imai. She barely spoke. Her hair was dark and cropped short and she had a transfixing pair of lavender eyes. She didn't smile either.

Nonoko Ogasawara had dark straight hair and had a passion for chemistry. Which was weird since I wasn't much of a fan of chemistry and couldn't for the life of me figure out why someone would actually like it.

The girl with the squeaky voice didn't make much of an impression on me. Her name was Wasako, I think.

I left my place and came back with a plate piled with food. Don't ask me why, but all of a sudden I was ravenous. I caught Sumire wrinkling her nose at me as I stuffed my mouth. The food fight was still going strong. The screaming and shouting made it hard to even think. All I know is that I was just lucky to be on the safe side of the overwhelmingly large lunch hall.

Except Hotaru, who only made casual comments, the other girls were non-stop chattering. They ate between sentences and Sumire, I noticed had barely anything on her plate at all. As for me, well I concentrated on the food. While I was stuffing my mouth, my thoughts began to drift. I wondered about the academy and if my mother would have reached the house by evening.

All of a sudden, I noticed a change in the atmosphere. The noise had died down. Completely stopped,like God almighty had snapped his fingers. All the shrieking and noise disappeared. I swivelled my head around to see the cause. Did the principal or someone equally important just enter?

There was a small confusion at the entrance, as food covered students standing near the doorway shuffled aside. I craned my neck to get a better look, the crowd of students blocking my view. The entire hall had fallen eerily quiet now. No one said a single word. The infectious silence had affected our table as well. Everyone, I could see, was turning in their seats and craning their heads.

When I was just about to take my courage in my hands and ask what the hell was wrong, I heard a voice speak. A male voice, husky and a tad angry. It was loud and in the silent lunchroom.

"Ichiro, Kaede, I thought I warned you about fights before." Frantic whispering broke the silence.

Next to me, Sumire squealed and then clamped a hand over her mouth, "Oh my god, it's him!"

I was perplexed, "Who?"

There was a bit of shuffling at the back of the crowd, as they parted to let two sandy-haired twins-make their way towards the front. I could hear some muttering and mumbling. Someone laughed. There was a lot of whispering going among the students now. Beside me, Sumire kept muttering to herself and fidgeting.

Miraculously, the crowd slowly began to disperse and I saw the cause of the sudden discipline. A tall, lean, raven-haired boy stood at the entrance. He looked to be about the same age as me. His figure radiated unadulterated annoyance. I couldn't see much, but it didn't take a genius to figure out he was scowling and angry.

Without warning, his head swiveled around and his gaze locked onto mine. I stiffened immediately, my posture going rigid. Then, he averted his eyes and the brief moment passed.

When our eyes had locked, I registered two things. One, I was blushing uncontrallably for some unfathomable reason. And two...

And two his eyes were red. A deep shade of crimson. Blood red.

"Who," I said my eyes fixed on the lithe form of the boy, "Is that?" He made his way to a table, a few people around him.

"Natsume Hyuuga," several voices answered. I tore away my gaze from the him and looked at the people seated around the table. Sumire, I noticed was looking at me suspiciously.

"Who?" I asked a little too innocently.

Hotaru raised an eyebrow, "Natsume Hyuuga. I expected Sumire to tell you all about him."

"Hotaru!" Anna reprimanded. Hotaru shrugged in reply.

Now I was confused, "What's so special about him?"

Sumire gawked at me. Even Anna and Nonoko exchanged looks.

"What's so special about him?" Sumire echoed, "What's so special about him?" -Might I mention her voice had descended to a vicious whisper- "Darling, _everything _is special about him."

I must have still had a confusing look on my face because Sumire sighed, exasperated, and continued.

"Okay, one, he's like the hottest guy in the whole school," she ticked off each topic on manicured fingers. "Two, almost every single girl in the school is after him. Three, he's stinkin' rich. Four, he's a genius. Five-"

"Okay, okay," I put my hands up in surrender, "I get it."

I continued eating, but I wasn't really tasting the food. My thoughts were somewhere else. I was still thinking about the weird eye contact we had shared a while ago.

Natsume Hyuuga...

I gazed around the room again — a room that was devoid of any type of food fight, and had resumed the normal hubbub of conversation —hoping to find him, and find him, I did.

He sat at a far away table. A crowd of giggling girls blocked most of my view, but from what I could see, he slouched lazily in his chair, mostly ignoring the dumb girls and talking very little with the others seated around the table.

One of the giggling girls, a curvaceous blonde caught my attention. Well, she practically caught everyone's attention with the way she kept flaunting herself. She placed both hands on Natsume Hyuuga's table in such a way it made her boobs almost pop out of her tight shirt.

For some reason, the sight made me sick.

"I'm hungry," I announced to our table suddenly. "I'm going for seconds."

I pushed the chair back and stood up, hearing Sumire mutter something about 'storing fat for winter'. I made my way to the large buffet and waited in line impatiently. When my turn came, I reached out eager hands to serve myself. Instead, the booby blonde from before came between me and my precious food.

"Excuse me," I said clearing my throat, "I was here first."

The girl turned around slowly and met my gaze. A scowl formed upon her face and she planted a hand firmly on her rounded hip. She flicked her hair behind her shoulder, and said in a LOUD voice, "And what the hell do you want?"

Several people passing by turned to stare and I felt my cheeks sting. The tips of my ears turned a rosy hue.

I bit my lip, "I was here first. If you want some food you should wait in line."

The girl scoffed and gave me the 'up-and-down' look. Her friends gathered around her with smug expressions on their faces. They all wore revealing dresses, of course.

"Listen girl, are you new here?" the booby blonde, who I took to be the ringleader said. In a voice that was dangerously sweet.

"What if I am?" I said defiantly, gathering courage.

"Yeah? I thought so." She folded her arms across her chest, her face turned malicious and she snarled, "So listen up while I..._enlighten_ you_," _her friends laughed loudly, "On the way things are run at this academy."

"First of all," she gestured to me, "Girls like _you_-"

"The name's Mikan Sakura," I interrupted. Her face turned animalistic and I wondered whether it would have been better to keep my trap shut.

"Fine, _Sakura,_" she spat. "Girls like you don't speak with girls like us. We're different, get it? Dirt-" she gestured to me, "And us don't mingle." She smirked triumphantly.

My entire face was burning now, and tears stung my eyes. Dirt. She'd called me dirt. Of all the mean things people had told me over the years, so far this one topped the list. So much embarrassment was rippling through me, it felt as if it was leaking out of my pores.

"So why don't you just get your whiny ass outta here?" More of her friends had arrived; more people to laugh at me. The whole school was watching, I could feel their eyes trained on me, waiting to see if I would fight back. I imagined them having a good time at my expense. It wasn't everyday that some freakish newbie got humiliated and picked on.

I was seriously in danger of crying now. A gut-wrenching feeling pervaded me. My breathing became shallow and I kept my head well down, not wanting anyone to notice how near-tears I had become. She rambled on about other things but I didn't hear any of that. The only thing running through my mind at the moment was that she had called me dirt. The world swirled around in my mind, filling up every square-inch.

_Dirt..._

_Dirt..._

_Dirt.._

Oh, hell no. From somewhere within the deep recesses of my mind, a faint voice came to me. A kind smile and twinkling laughter.

_Remember Mikan, never let anyone make you feel inferior._

"Shut up." An elusive memory tugged at the edges.

She immediately stopped mid-sentence and her eyes narrowed incredulously, "Excuse me?"

"I said shut up. You hard of hearing? Oh wait, I forgot. With all that talking, the only thing that you can probably hear is your own mouth." I raised my head and glared at her straight in the eye.

The girl's friends shared incredulous looks, their mouths open. It wasn't just them; the entire lunchroom broke into shocked whispers. Someone hooted. The girl herself didn't say anything, seeming to be furious for one moment. Then her mouth pulled back into a sneer and she seemed herself again. My sudden-found confidence dropped a notch. She opened her mouth to say something but was cut off by another voice.

"Leave her alone, Koizumi-san. The poor girl just wanted some food."

I chanced a glance up and was startled to find a tall blonde man standing a few feet away. A few earrings glinted on his ear and he seemed to have a rather- er -_flamboyant _taste in clothes. My heart immediately reached out to this stranger, my hero. I realized he was a teacher from the way the students reacted.

Koizumi turned to me, eyes narrowed, "You're lucky this time, _Sakura_. I won't go so easy on you next time." She turned around, her friends trailing behind her. A few of her friends threw furtive gances back at me, as if the mere idea of wanting more food repelled them. Students immediately parted to make way for her. What was she? A queen? Well, either that or they were actually running away from her.

Slowly, people got bored with me and resumed whatever they had been doing before Koizumi started humiliating me. The blonde teacher was standing at the side. He wore a broad grin and beckoned me over. I numbly trudged up to him.

"You're Mikan Sakura, I presume? The new student?"

I nodded. I stood there awkwardly before realizing that I was supposed to say something. "Thank you for, you know, back there- er-"

"Narumi L. Anju," he took off an imaginary hat and mock bowed, "At your service. And don't mention it. Luna-san can be a bit rude when she gets upset."

Upset? She seemed to be having a rather good time picking on me and flirting with that Hyuuga guy.

"So, you're a teacher right?"

"Yes, I teach English and I'm in charge of the drama club. Maybe you'll be in my class, Mikan-chan," he winked at me. The more I talked with him, the less awkward it became and it wasn't long before I was laughing along freely with him. After some time he excused himself and politely left. I was still standing there smiling like an idiot when Sumire crept up beside me and tapped my shoulder.

"Oi, quit your daydreaming. Nice show you put on back there. And of all the people to get mixed up with, you go and screw with who? _Luna Koizumi."_

I felt irritated. "It wasn't like your own help was forthcoming," I shot back.

"It wasn't," she admitted, "But listen Mikan, that girl means trouble. Remember, earlier when you arrived, I said I could make your life hell? Well, I can't even hold a candle to Luna. If you're not careful, she'll make sure that every single second you spent at the academy is torture."

I fell silent, pondering this new piece of information and wondering what the hell I had gotten myself into when-

"But you know, the way you stood up to her back there was pretty amazing. Not many people have the courage to do that." I looked at Sumire. She seemed genuine.

"Thanks," I said finally.

She shrugged, "It wasn't a compliment. I'm just saying."

"Oh, okay."

After lunch, Sumire ditched me saying she had things to attend to. I had no idea where Hotaru disappeared to. Anna And Nonoko left saying they had a project that they were working on together to complete. Since it was a Sunday, there were no afternoon classes. I roamed around the school absent-mindedly, getting lost more than often. Some of the students would stare at me as I walked past, no doubt remembering me from the afternoon's fiasco. Late evening rolled by and I received my card which I would use to get into my room and 'only my room' as the smiling receptionist had so cheerfully pointed out.

I skipped dinner and opted instead to go to bed, something I hadn't done since the 6th grade. But something else had been niggling at the back of my mind. Something that no matter how hard I tried remained out of my grasp. An elusive memory. It felt like one moment I had almost got it but then it'd vanish and leave me feeling frustrated.

I wasted a lot of time searching for my room, I wandered through the building till I came upon a familiar corridor. It seemed deserted. I trudged through till I came upon my room. I produced the card, but then I noticed that the door was slightly ajar. I pushed it open, expecting to find Sumire inside. Instead it was empty. Sumire must have popped inside and forgotten to lock the door.

I vaguely noticed that something was different about the room from the last time I had come here. But the sight of the inviting beds made me forget everything and collapse into the one which I remembered to be mine. My eyes flickered shut, and the events of the day washed over me. Then a thought occurred to me. It was of my father.

_Remember Mikan, never let anyone make you feel inferior._

It was a memory of my father. I smiled drowsily into my pillow before I drifted off. The last thing I remember thinking was, 'Why aren't any of my things here?'

* * *

Okay, this chapter was not easy to write. But stick with me people, I promise to get better. Thank you to the people who are following the story and/or reviewed.

Tell me what you think of this chapter. Oh, and any guesses as to why her stuff aren't in her room? *evil grin*

-Depressed Writer


	2. Chapter2: Waking Up

_**Blood Red**_

_**Chapter 2**_

* * *

**Chapter 2: Waking Up**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Gakuen Alice. But, hey a girl can dream right?**

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The sheets felt soft and silky under my skin. The warmth of sunlight played upon my closed lids. A strange feeling of inner calm radiated through my being. A feeling that I hadn't felt since, well, forever. I remained the way I was, between a state of consciousness and sleep. My thoughts were fuzzy. And slow.

I turned over on to my back. A wide number of noises, severely dulled by my lack of consciousness, filtered through my ears. I barely registered them. I heard someone talk. I didn't catch what the person said. A clear thought formed in my head: It must be Sumire. Then the rest of my endorphin-filled brain took over and I thought, Who's Sumire?

After a while, my mind became relatively clearer and I started wondering why on earth I was feeling so happy. Even as the events of the previous day washed over me, I wasn't a bit fazed. Slowly, a series of vague images appeared to me. With a sense of certainty, I realized that it was a dream I had had that was making me so happy. Already it was fading. In no time at all, I couldn't remember a single thing. But the comfort lingered long afterwards, filling me with a sense of security and mirth.

My eyes opened a crack. I smiled imagining the great day I would have to-

"Oh, you're awake. Finally."

My eyes flew open and I sat bolt straight. I looked upon the person in front of me with a sense of dread. Because that wasn't Sumire's voice.

A very annoyed and angry raven-haired boy sat casually in a wooden chair. His hair was tousled and there were dark circles under his eyes, like he didn't get a good night's sleep. His short eyebrows were pulled down in a scary frown.

His eyes were crimson and they were glaring straight at me.

Yeah, I'm pretty sure that wasn't Sumire.

Instead I found myself gaping at Natsume Hyuuga.

Remember how not a moment ago, I was feeling elated? All that happiness and comfort and security?

Yeah, in case you're wondering, that was all total bullshit. Those feelings evaporated into nothingness the moment I heard his voice.

"You!" I said finally, overcoming shock, and finding my voice.

He raised an eyebrow, "Me."

"You-what, how-" I took a moment to compose myself. "What are you doing in my room?"

He seemed annoyed. "Your room? I think you'll find that this is _not _your room."

"Wha-" I looked around for a moment. It was true. The room bore a striking resemblance to my room, but it was most certainly NOT my room. Any moron could figure that out. But I was pretty sure I'd entered the right room. Sure, I hadn't bothered to check twice, but I was sure I'd entered the right room. The door had been in the exact place my room door wa-

My eyes flickered to Natsume Hyuuga.

Oh. My. God.

I was in the boys dormitory.

I officially hate my life.

Something Sumire had said came back to me.

_This is the boys part of the dorms. You're not allowed to go here after 7 pm._

I groaned and held my head. What had I done?

Natsume cleared his throat, "Do you mind?"

I looked up at him, surprised. He looked pissed off.

The words spilled out of my mouth, "I'm so sorry. I just got a bit lost yesterday. I thought this was my room .The door was open and I didn't even check. And now I'm in the _boys _dormitory. Oh god..." I stumbled out of bed - _Natsume's bed - _and caught myself on the edge of the bedside table.

I was still rambling, "This is horrible. I'm sure to get expelled. Oh, what will they think of me? I'm such an idiot!"

"Yeah, no kidding," he glared at me.

Despite the fact that I was the one at fault here, for some reason I found myself getting irritated at him. I threw him a dirty look.

"You haven't been here for more than a day, and you're already the craziest fan girl ever," he drawled casually.

Fan girl? What was he talking about? More importantly, I needed to get out of here, the more time spent in this room, the more the danger of expulsion increased. Not that I didn't want to get out of this school, I just didn't want to imagine what my mom would do to me when she found out the reason of my expulsion. The thought made a shiver run through my spine.

"I need to get out of here," I mumbled, picked up my shoes from the foot of the bed, slipped it on and made my way towards the door. I turned the doorknob and opened it a crack, but a hand pushed it shut again. A hand grabbed my shoulder and spun me around before slamming me into the door. I found myself face to face with Natsume Hyuuga. I glanced at the chair beside the bed where he was sitting mere seconds ago. How had he gotten from there to here in less than a second?

Never mind that, I had more pressing issues. For example, the guy in front of me.

"What are you doing?" Natsume breathed, his breath fanning my face. I was startled to have him so close. His crimson eyes looked at me reproachfully with a hint of alarm.

"What does it look like, genius? I'm getting out of here. I thought you didn't want me here?"

"You're a girl in the boys' dormitory," he hissed at me, "When they see you coming out of my room, they'll think that just anyone can waltz into my room. They'll stake outside my room I won't be able to leave for days."

His eyes held a crazy look in them. "Who," I whispered, "Is 'they'?"

"My crazy fan girls," he replied monotonously.

"Fan girls? You've got to be kidding me," I said sympathetically, placing a hand on his chest to push him off- he didn't budge- while at the same time trying to turn the doorknob and make a beeline back to my own room, and trying to do it _subtly._

Too late-his eyes glanced at my hand which was turning the doorknob. He grabbed my hand and pinned it above my head. He grabbed my other hand as well and trapped my legs with his own.

Oh great, now I was completely at this guy's mercy.

"If you walk out," his voice rising and his eyebrows pulling down into a scary frown, "You'll be murdered in cold blood by those crazed girls that are probably running amok behind that door right now."

I glared at him, my temper rising, "So what, " I challenged, "Do you propose we do now? I can't simply open the door and leave for fear of being killed by your, er, 'fan girls' ," -I drew quotation marks in the air with my fingers- "And you don't want me to walk out either since you're scared you'll be mobbed. At the same time, neither of us want me to stay in this room a second longer. I mean, what do you expect me to do?" I threw my hands in the air to emphasize my point, "Jump out of the window?"

Natsume who had been sitting hunched over on his bed, staring at the floor through laced fingers, suddenly went rigid. Then he lifted his gaze and stared at me expressionless.

"Oh no," I said realizing what was going on through his head, "You can't- I refuse to let you throw me out-"

But he had already risen from his position, and hurriedly scrambled to the double-hung window and slid it up. Sunlight poured in and played around the room, casting shadows everywhere.

"Are you _mental_?" I hissed at him, panic creeping into my voice. When he didn't answer, I began thinking of ways to escape from my imminent doom. In the case of a fight, it was obvious he would overpower me. But if I pretended to go for his face, then kick him in the nuts instead, maybe I could just buy myself some time to run out while-

"You're not going to jump out," Natsume's voice snapped me from my vision of an all-out brawl.

"What?"

"You'll use the fire escape."

I almost fainted with relief. Of course. The fire escape. Why didn't I think of that?

_Because you're so stupid, you actually slept in some guy's bed thinking it was yours, _I mentally answered myself.

_Oh, shut up,_ the defiant side of me answered.

Suddenly, there was a loud rap at the door, followed by a playful voice muffled by the wooden door, "Hey, Natsume. What are you doing holed up in there? Classes start in five minutes."

Natsume glanced at me pointedly before replying, "I'm coming. Just give me a minute."

I started panicking, "Five minutes? Classes start in five minutes?," I sputtered, thinking of what the teacher was going to say when I showed up late on my first day at this school, "Oh, I am so dead."

"Can you please stop _mumbling _and get out?" Natsume hissed at me. _Such _a sweet guy.

I squeezed out through the window, momentarily wondering whether I needed to lose weight. I placed one foot on the fire escape, before squeezing the other one out through the window. I held onto the railing for support as the whole structure swayed. I looked down and blanched. The ground was several feet away. Natsume's room overlooked a garden pathway, leading up to a humongous green field.

"Now get going, "Natsume peered at me, holding up a hand to shade his eyes from the sunlight,"Oh and, you might want to brush your teeth before you go to class. Your breath really stinks."

And with that, he shut the window in my face, and hurriedly drew the curtains over it.

Yep, definitely the nicest guy on the planet.

But he wasn't the priority here, I still had to get all the way back to my dorm, freshen up and get to class. Tentatively, I put a foot on the first step, starting my long, careful descent downwards. The fire escape was incredibly old and rusty. Some parts of it creaked under my weight. I briefly wondered whether the fire escape would give way under me and I would fall to my doom.

When my feet had finally touched solid ground again, I breathed a sigh of relief and looked around. A few students milled about in the field, some of them siting on the grass. From where I stood, they looked like small dots. I hoped they wouldn't notice me.

I snaked my way around the corner of the building, keeping my head as low and staying close to the wall. A couple of students passed me but none of them gave me any notice. I knew I looked like a mess: I had just woken up.

I reached an entrance of a building of the academy without any trouble. I went inside and found myself immediately in a throng of students. What little sense of direction I had gave up as the crowd pushed me right and left till I felt as helpless as a ping-pong ball.

I was _never_ going to make it to my own room- heck, I didn't even know which corridor I was in.

Just when I was going to give up, a hand gripped my shoulder like a vice, "Sakura!"

I whirled around and found myself face to face with Sumire.

"Sumire!"

Okay, maybe she wasn't my favorite person, but at that moment relief washed over me and I could barely restrain myself from throwing my arms around her.

"Where the hell did you disappear to after lunch yesterday, you idiot?" She hissed at me, leading me through the crowd.

"We looked everywhere_, _and I mean _everywhere. _I had to beg Imai to force someone to check the boys' bathroom. At last, we thought you must have run away from the academy or something. So spill. Where were you hiding?"

I grinned sheepishly, not wanting to tell her where I actually was. If I did, she'd have a heart attack. But seeing as she wasn't going to let me off the hook without an answer, I didn't seem to have much of a choice.

I avoided her eyes, and mumbled, "I was in Natsume Hyuuga's room."

"You were **WHERE**?"

"Sumire, calm down, people are watching," I begged through clenched teeth, my cheeks flaming as half the corridor turned to look at us.

"Sorry," she whispered, "You were _where_?"

"I told you: I was in Natsume Hyuuga's room."

Sumire stared at me as if I was mental, then grabbed my hand and pulled me through the crowd," We need to talk."

I sighed. This was going to be a long day.

Despite my weak protests, Sumire continued to drag me all the way back to our own room, pushed me inside and hurriedly closed the door, before settling o the couch, legs crossed.

"Explain," she ordered.

So I did. I told her how I had mistaken the boys' dorm for the girls' dorm, went inside the wrong room and woke up to find myself in Natsume's room. I told her how I had gotten out through the fire escape.

"So let me get this straight," she held up a hand after I had finished," You actually slept in Natsume's bed?"

"Uh yeah, I did," I replied, "Listen, there's just a minute left before classes start. We should really get going. I haven't even brush-"

"Oh my god. This is, like, unbelievable. I mean, forget what happened with Koizumi, _this _is so much more. How could _you, _of all people, infiltrate Natsume's room-"

"I didn't _infiltrate _it, I mistook it for our room-"

"Do you know how many girls would give their right hand to just get a _look _at Natsume's room?" she went on," I would give both my hands. So tell me, what did it look like? Were his bed sheets red or orange? Does he really have a picture of a girl on his bedside table?"

"I don't remember," I said a headache forming as Sumire bombarded me with questions, "Geez, you sound like some crazy stalker."

"Says the crazy, obsessed fangirl who actually snuck into his room and slept in his bed-"

"Okay, first of all," I said jumping up, my temper flaring," I am not a crazy, obsessed fan girl. I don't even _like _him, okay? In fact, I think I actually hate him. Second, I did not sneak into his room. It was a mistake- a honest, innocent mistake that I was stupid enough to make, okay?"

Sumire seemed surprised by my outburst. I stood there glaring at her, doing nothing.

The school bell interrupted our staring match.

We both glanced briefly at the door, looked at each other before saying in unison," Shit, we're late."

I brushed my teeth, freshened myself up and rushed around the room, combing my hair and pulling on clothes.

"Hurry up, Mikan!" Sumire waited for me outside the door. We had our first class together, which was Maths. We burst into the room, three minutes late- or as Mr. Jinno, the maths teacher, said, "Three minutes and twenty-three seconds late."

Jinno was a large man who immediately found numerous faults with me that he voiced aloud, just in the short span of forty-five minutes. I mean, can I help it if I'm horrible at math? When the bell rang, I practically grabbed my stuff and ran out of the room.

I had English next. Sumire had History. I got lost several times, trying to find the right classroom, wasting a good ten minutes.

I roamed through the corridors, trying to locate the right classroom. For some reason, most of the students stared and whispered at me as I passed them. Was there something on my face? Or maybe they remembered me from yesterday's canteen incident. Whatever the reason was, I didn't like the attention.

I kept my head down and tried to blend in. When I _finally _found the right classroom, I took a deep breath and entered it.

Immediately, all the heads in the classroom turned towards me. They all stared at me for some time, before something that seemed like recognition registered on their faces and they gaped at me. Which was impossible since this was my first day at this school, and I was sure none of them knew me. How could recognition flit across someone's face when looking at someone they didn't know?

An image of a long-haired blonde girl seething and snarling appeared in my mind's eye and I winced. If I had known talking back to Luna Koizumi would get me this much attention, I'd have never set foot in that canteen.

A few of them dug out their cellphones and stared at it for a few minutes before turning their gaze back to me.

Did I mention how much I was starting to hate this school?

"Mikan-san! I was beginning to think that you'd never come," a cheerful voice said to my right.

I whirled around, recognizing the voice, " Mr. Narumi. What are you doing here?"

"I'm your English teacher, of course." He was wearing a pirate costume, eye patch and all, with a scabbard hanging on his waist.

Out of all the English teachers I'd had throughout the years, Mr. Narumi seemed to be the most eccentric. I mean, what kind of teacher actually dresses up for his classes?

He took my hand and dragged me inside the class.

"So, Mikan-san. Introduce yourself," he said brightly.

I was in a daze," Huh? What?"

"Introduce yourself," he said encouragingly,"Tell us a bit about you."

"Oh,uh.." I looked around the classroom. None of them seemed pretty glad to see me. The girls shot daggers at me, while the boys just looked at me quizzically, like I might be a new interesting bug they had just discovered.

"Hi, I'm Mikan Sakura. I'm sixteen years old and, uh-" I racked my brains ," I like reading books and-" I glanced at Mr. Narumi once before saying ,"English is my favourite subject."

Mr. Narumi was impressed, "Your favorite subject is English? What a coincidence! English is my favorite subject too!" he looked around the room as if expecting peals of laughter. No one so much as smiled.

He cleared his throat, and took out a thick, dog-eared file from the cupboard, "We need to find a partner for you..." he flipped through the file, forehead creased, mumbling to himself.

I took the opportunity to inspect my classmates. I didn't know most of them. I noticed Hotaru, Anna and Nonoko sitting in the middle. Anna and Nonoko smiled at me. Hotaru barely glanced up from the book she was reading. At the back of the class, I noticed a playful, blond kid grinning like a Cheshire cat.

Next to him was a boy sitting with his legs kicked up on the table in front of him, a manga book covering his face. Was he sleeping? I glanced at Mr. Narumi. He didn't seem to notice the casual kid in class. Or, I thought, he didn't care.

"Mikan-san, well, almost everyone has a partner...except," he looked up from the file with a _dazzling _smile, that for some reason made me nervous , "Natsume-kun."

Wait..._what?_

The class immediately broke into whispers looking back and forth from me to the boy sleeping at the back of the class. Some of the girls screamed.

Could that be...

The boy who had been grinning nudged Natsume and said something to him. Natsume removed the manga from his face lazily, his eyes staring right at me. He didn't say anything. But, I knew he remembered me from the way his eyes flickered.

"That's him over there," Mr. Narumi gestured, "H's your partner so you should sit next with him. You'll be doing projects, assignments, activities...basically everything with him."

I looked at him as if he was crazy, and feeling the entire class' eyes on me, made my way to the back of the class with a tortured expression on my face. Begrudgingly, I sat down next to him. The Cheshire-cat-boy winked at me. I wasn't sure what that was supposed to mean.

Even after I had sat down, the entire class was still staring at me. I didn't even want to know how red my cheeks looked. Natsume, for his part, had slid the manga back onto his face and resumed sleeping.

Everyone was _still _staring at me. I mean, I can't help it if I had the misfortune to get stuck with the world's biggest jerk. Mr. Narumi had to clear his throat several times before he could actually start class. When he actually started teaching, I heard Natsume mumble, "And just when I thought I'd gotten rid of you."

I was shocked. I thought the guy was sleeping, but apparently not.

"I didn't ask for this," I hissed at him through the corner of my mouth.

Throughout class, people stole glances at me. I resisted the urge to jump up and run screaming out of the class. When the bell rang, I jumped up and ran out of the class again. This was starting to become a hobby.

But even outside of classes, people continued to stare at me as if I was some sort of freak. This was _way_ more attention than I had bargained for. Why was everyone so interested in me, all of a sudden? I know I stuck up to Luna and everything, but that wasn't reason enough to stare at me like I had three heads and one was green.

I was about to enter my History class when a soft, clipped voice behind me said, "Miss Sakura?"

I turned around, and saw that it was the receptionist I had met yesterday, "Uh, yes?"

"The Principal would like a word with you."

The Principal? What had I done that merited an audience with the great Principal himself?

The receptionist had already started walking away. Not wanting to be left behind, I followed her. She led me through a maze of corridors, that I had no way of remembering, before coming to a halt in front of a large, wooden, polished door.

She knocked on it twice, before opening the door, "Miss Sakura is here to see you, sir."

A deep voice from inside the room said, "Send her in."

The receptionist held the door open and gestured for me to go inside. Feeling nervous, I went inside to meet whatever awaited me. I was inside a large, spacious room. Towards the right were rows and rows of trophies the school had won through the years. In front of me, was a tall, lean man heavily clad in black, seated behind a desk. He was peering at a laptop in front of him intently. His eyes were hidden beneath long hair. A few earrings dangled from his ear.

I stared at him. This was definitely not what I expected the Principal to look like.

"Sit down," he wave at the chair in front of his des, not raising his gaze. I bit my lip, and took a seat.

"My name is Mr. Persona. I'll cut to the chase here," he said briskly and without faltering, "Early this morning, we received these pictures taken by one of our students."

He turned the laptop towards me and leaned back in his chair. I looked at the pictures on the screen and my heart sank.

"Explain yourself," he said quietly.

I was at a loss. Not a single word to amend the situation came to mind. I just sat there, staring at the screen, while Mr. Persona surveyed me carefully. I finally realized why everyone had been staring at me. It wasn't because of Luna at all. If these pictures were really taken by a student, then no doubt they must have circulated throughout the entire school by now.

I wondered what my mother would say after they expelled me.

On the screen was a picture of me climbing out of a window and onto a fire escape. Behind me, almost hidden behind the folds of the curtain was a pair of crimson eyes and raven hair that unmistakably belonged to Natsume.

* * *

Yes, I know, I know-I haven't updated in three months. I'm really sorry, it's just that there's a lot going on here at the moment.

But, never mind that, how about a review?

Depressed Writer


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